Laws Protecting the Rights and Interests of Returned Overseas Chinese and Their Relatives: Their Relevance and Adaptation

Abstract

Over the last 20 years, and the last decade in particular, the distinctive features of returned Overseas Chinese and their relatives in China have gradually become less so. As China has made enormous strides with laws to protect the rights and interests of all citizens, the legal principles underlying China’s 1990 Law on the Protection of the Rights and Interests of Returned Overseas Chinese and their Relatives (revised 2000) are facing significant challenges. The best way to address these challenges is first to rethink the 1990 Law comprehensively. Under one proposal, the principle of ‘equal and non-discriminatory treatment’ could be given greater emphasis to emphasize the equality of all citizens. The principle of ‘case-specific and preferential treatment’ for returned Overseas Chinese and their relatives embodied in the 1990 Law, on the other hand, might be gradually reduced in importance, ultimately to be replaced with laws that ‘foster integration’ of these persons into Chinese society. Further, when possible, legislative proposals for a law of fostering integration of returned Overseas Chinese and their relatives should be put on the governmental agenda.

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